Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder and Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
The target of Growth has to be only in relation to equity indicators. The commoners must have a real taste of independence and being a developing country would be a rightful claim and justification if there are equalizing syndrome in economic development. ‘The satisfaction of human needs and aspirations is the major objective of development. The essential needs of vast numbers of people in developing countries for food, clothing, shelter, jobs – are not being met, and beyond their basic needs these people have legitimate aspirations for an improved quality of life. A world in which poverty and inequity are endemic will always be prone to ecological and other crises. Sustainable development requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunity to satisfy their aspirations for a better life. Level of living that go beyond the basic minimum are sustainable only if consumption standards everywhere have regard for long-term sustainability “Meeting essential needs depends in part on achieving full growth potential, and sustainable development clearly requires economic growth in places where such needs are not being met. Elsewhere, it can be consistent with economic growth, provided the content of growth reflects the broad principles of sustainability and non-exploitation of others. But growth by itself is not enough. High levels of productive activity and widespread poverty can coexist, and can endanger the environment. Hence sustainable development requires that societies meet human needs both by increasing productive potential and by ensuring equitable opportunities for all” as pos. Sustainable development tantamount to reflection of egalitarian principle in policy implementation. Policy level must think of common not vested interests. ‘How are individuals in the real world to be persuaded or made to act in the common interest? The answer lies partly in education, institutional development, and law enforcement. But many problems of resource depletion and environmental stress arise from disparities in economic and political power.
An industry may get away with unacceptable levels or air and water pollution because the people who bear the brunt of it are poor and unable to complain effectively. A forest may be destroyed by excessive felling because the people living there have no alternatives or because timber contractors generally have more influence then forest dwellers.’ The search for common interest would be less difficult if all development and environment problems had solutions that would leave everyone better off. This is seldom the case, and there are usually winners and losers. Many problems arise from inequalities in access to resources. An inequitable landowner ship structure can lead to overexploitation of resources in the smallest holdings, with harmful effects on both environment and development. Internationally, monopolistic control over resources can drive those who do not share in them to excessive exploitation of marginal resources. The differing capacities of exploiters to commandeer ‘free’ goods – locally, nationally, and internationally – is another manifestation of unequal access to resources. ‘Losers’ in environment/development conflicts include those who suffer more than their fair share of the health, property, and ecosystem damage costs of pollution. Participation is an attribute of sustainability.
It denotes involvement of commoners in institution building activities, increasing consciousness of the masses for community development, information technologies, human rights and legitimate claims on available inputs and logistics. In traditional rural communities participation is narrowly spaced owing to mass ignorance about cosmopolitan values.
In real sustainable development, participation is wide-ranging in the contest of pro-active peasant role in assuming organizational responsibility. Participatory Governance (PG) has become an acceptable doctrine to pull the backward community to prosperity. Empowerment of the vulnerable is the hallmark of sustainable development. We can safely view target group approach as frontline component of the program for the vulnerable. True this is a disadvantaged focused policy interventions.
The idea is to enable the rural poor to involve in participatory development process. There has been institutional concern to activate the vast reservoir of human resources to educate the poor and to enhance their nutritional status. Such concern is a symbol of realization about the inadequacy of the resource of the poor and powerless group of rural population. It is imperative to organize the powerless into an institutional framework though target group approach. It appears that equitable sustainable development as a concept has cropped up in the wake of the promotional process to break the chain leading the powerless to reach access point.
The idea is to combat structural constraint through behavior change communication. Development practioners have endeavored to upscale efforts at community regeneration as a social movement to enhance the abilities of the left outs to mobilize, manage and control local and external resources by themselves and receive necessary services and supports. Realizing the imperative of equity participation international policy communities have adopted the following strategies: reviving growth; changing the quality of growth; meeting essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water, and sanitation; ensuring a sustainable level of population; conserving and enhancing the resource base: reorienting technology and managing risk; and merging environment and economics in decision making.
Meeting basic human needs is a social imperative. ‘In its broadest sense, the strategy for sustainable development aims to promote harmony among human brings and between humanity and nature. In the specific context of the development and environment crises of the 1980s, which current national and international political and economic institutions have not and perhaps cannot overcome.
The pursuit of sustainable development requires: a political system that secures effective citizen participation in decision making, an economic system that is able to generate surpluses and technical knowledge on a self-reliant and sustained basis, a social system that provides for solutions for the tensions arising from disharmonious development, a production system that respects the obligation to preserve the ecological base for development, a technological system that can search continuously for new solutions, an international system that fosters sustainable patterns of trade and finance.
(Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder, Pro-VC, BUP and Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Retired Professor, Chittagong University)
